First Midwife Appointment

So the system in Ireland is a little different to that in the states. 

Here, there are three options: Public, Semi-private, and Private.  All Irish citizens and ordinary residents are entitled to completely free maternity care, thanks to the 1970 Health Act.  This 100% free care falls under the 'public' heading.  Women are also able to avail of some free services, while paying for others (or paying with isurance) - about half and half.  This falls under semi-private care.  If you want to go full private and pay out of pocket or with private insurance for everything, that is an option too.  Going public, there's less choice in terms of doctors and facilities and things are a bit more rushed, given the demand.  Going private, it's expensive.

As a Non-EEA citizen, I am still entitled to some maternity care if I have been living in Ireland for the last year and paying taxes (which I have.)  As a student, I'm not sure how much care that is.  I was given a form to fill out and send away to the HSE, and I haven't heard back yet, so I'm playing it by ear.  So far, it looks like I will be semi-private, paying for midwife visits, but not hospital visits...or vice versa...I'm not quite sure.

ANYway, today was my first midwife appointment.  I am 13 weeks along, and because of the intense life choices we're making right now, I wanted to be sure that the pregnancy is viable.  I had heard that you can hear the heartbeat through a doppler at 12 weeks, so I was really hoping the midwife would do that for us - it seems to be touch and go over here.  Unfortunately for us, the first ultrasound over here is usually a 20 week anomaly scan, because of the great demand for scans.  This means we'll have to pay for a private scan if we want to see it earlier, about 150 euro.

The midwife brought us up and asked us all sorts of questions, how my morning sickness was, how far along I am, etc.  My (sorry guys) urine looked great and she took my blood pressure at the beginning of the exam.  She seemed concerned after she took it and told me she'd take it again later.  Usually I get nervous about having my blood pressure taken (I have no idea) and it's high the first time.  Every time I've gone to the doctor, the second time they take it, it drops significantly.  I told her that I was concerned about developing gestational diabetes because I can't seem to retain any water that I take in, and am constantly dehydrated.  I also let her know about my hypothyroidism, which could have affected the baby's development in the first trimester.  She said she could try the doppler, but hers is really not sensitive enough until about 15 weeks.  Usually they wait until the first hospital appointment to do blood testing, but because of all of my concerns, and because I happened to not have eaten in the past 12 hours (ie. too lazy to eat breakfast) she could conduct full, fasting bloods.

As I was laying down for the drawing of blood, she brought out the doppler.  She squeezed some extra cold jelly on my tummy and went to town trying to find a heart beat.  A couple of times, my heart skipped a beat when I heard the swish-swish noises coming from it, but she explained those were just the sounds of blood rushing in and out of my placenta.  She explained that a baby's heartbeat sounds like a horse galloping...very fast.  She searched for a while, but couldn't find the heartbeat for sure, she said she might have heard it behind the other sounds, however the doppler is just not sensitive enough for this early stage.  What she did say was "Well, SOMETHING is going on down there."  I guess that's why it's great that I don't have a doppler.  I'd probably think every sound was the heartbeat, and if I couldn't find it, I'd freak out. 

After this, she took my blood pressure again.  It was still high 134/94.  She stressed that it shouldn't be that high this early and that I need to get my diet straight and the boyfriend needs to drag me out to exercise.  Siiiiiiiiiigh..Ooookaaaay!  I've been so fatigued lately, but this really isn't an option now, I have to get my blood pressure down.

After the appointment, we decided to schedule a first ultrasound privately.  It's tonight at 8.  I'm a little nervous, but it will be good to confirm everything is safe and sound.  More on that later!